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Revision as of 02:01, 21 February 2003 by Paul A (talk | contribs)(diff) ← Previous revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)Mr. Bean is a British comedy starring Rowan Atkinson, a famous British comedian. In the show, he plays a selfish, sometimes ingenious buffoon who frequently gets into hilarious situations due to his various schemes and contrivances.
The humor of the show is very physical (as opposed to verbal), and the main character speaks very little, if at all, during most shows.
Mr. Bean is the star of the show, and doesn't share the spotlight with anyone else. Other characters exist simply to provide victims for his various antics, and besides the star, there are is only one recurring character, his sometime "girlfriend" Irma Gobb.
The show's title sequence depicts Mr. Bean falling from the sky in a beam of light. It is not clear whether this is meant as a literal depiction of the character's origins, but it might as well be: he is alone in the world, is frequently childlike, and often seems unaware of basic aspects of the way the world works.
A movie, Bean, was made based on the show in 1997, but this broke with the show's tradition by having a subplot with more developed characters. Instead of being the sole show, Mr. Bean now played second fiddle to the travails of a typical suburban, American family (having been sent to America by a group of acquaintances who wanted a break from having him messing up their lives).
The character was revived again in the 2002 animated series, Mr Bean. Some people have questioned the point of an animated Mr. Bean - although he is now capable of far stranger adventures (and facial expressions), they lack the interest generated when it was an actual person doing it.